Hydrocarbon Biofuel Research Articles

Performance and emission characteristic studies on CRDi diesel engine fuelled with jatropha green diesel

The Use of the fossil fuel power increments regular that leads towards the consumption of fossil fuel along with emissions from diesel or pressure ignition engine contributes development of disease on individuals, thus global government’s arrangements orders call for emissions decline. The expanding comprehension of the above made environmentally agreeable and monetary invaluable resource of green diesel gas become more alluring lately. As a rule, Biodiesel and bioethanol are acknowledged because of the reality planned sustainable transportation fuels. Fatty substances are formed related with the long and direct hydrocarbon spine having a decreased volume of oxygen when contrasted and sugar, starch, and biomass that is cellulosic. It truly is, thusly, thought to be the engaging biomass for assembling hydrocarbon biofuels. Pyrolysis, synergist breaking, and hydro de oxygenation (HDO) are achievable channels for assembling diesel-range hydrocarbons from fatty oils, regularly comprehended as ‘green diesel’. Among these methodology, HDO could be the usually acknowledged course attributable to the high return of green diesel. Also, this course is associated with negligible absence of unsaturated fat’s carbons as unpredictable hydrocarbons. This course further offers the probability of co-handling of fatty substances with raw petroleum parts inside the current hydrotreatment item. in the daily life utilizatation of the fossil fuel

Hydrocracking process of coconut oil using Ni-Zn/HZSM-5 catalyst for hydrocarbon biofuel production

Renewable hydrocarbon biofuel was produced by hydrocracking of coconut oil using a bifunctional catalyst. Hydrocarbon biofuel is promising for production of future fuels from vegetable oil. The advantage of the hydrocracking is the formation of hydrocarbon biofuel products at the conventional fuel range. The purpose of this work is to produce hydrocarbon biofuel by hydrocracking of coconut oil using the catalyst of Ni-Zn/HZSM-5. The processes of hydrocracking processes were performed in a vessel reactor by stirring with magnetically at 350 °C and the reaction pressure of 15 bar for 2 h under flowing H2 with Ni-Zn/HZSM-5 catalyst. The effect of Ni-Zn/HZSM-5 catalyst was evaluated by determining the composition of products (hydrocarbon biofuel). The hydrocarbon biofuel was determined by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The GC-MS results of hydrocarbon biofuel show the aliphatic compounds in the range C12-C22. The presence of C17-C18 in the hydrocarbon biofuel was relatively low. Hydrocarbon biofuel composition consists of 0.11 cycloparaffins, 5.33 normal paraffins, 7.85 olefin, and 0.08 aromatics based on area%. The total amount of detected oxygenated compounds was 86.63 area% carboxylic acid. These compounds are responsible for the low quality of the hydrocarbon biofuel. However, the reaction must be carried out at above 350 °C to eliminate the oxygenated compounds in the hydrocarbon biofuel, as an important step to replace non-renewable fossil fuels.

(Invited) Increasing Biogas to Liquid Fuel Yield By Solid Oxide Co-Electrolysis of Biogas CO2 Fraction

OxEon Energy, LLC (OxEon) plans to demonstrate production of liquid hydrocarbon fuels using both the methane and CO2 generated in a food waste digester operated by the Environmental Products & Technologies Corporation (EPT). The EPT food waste digester in Burley Idaho sells produced biogas into a natural gas pipeline after separating and venting the bio-CO2. This project will convert the bio-methane to synthesis gas (syngas, as CO & H2) using a non-thermal plasma catalyzed autothermal reformer. To achieve high bio-carbon utilization, an OxEon high temperature solid oxide co-electrolysis (HTCE) system will electrochemically generate additional syngas from the bio-CO2 combined with steam raised by cooling the Fischer Tropsch (FT) reactor. Syngas from the reformed methane and co-electrolyzed CO2, will be converted to liquid fuels using an OxEon developed FT reactor. Each of the technology components have been field tested independently and will be combined for the first time in this project. The project outcome will be an engineering scale demonstration of liquid hydrocarbon bio-fuel production achieving > 50% conversion to liquids of the biogenic carbon in both CH4 & CO2 produced by an anaerobic digester.Each of the three technology elements of the integrated engineering test incorporates numerous innovations. The plasma reactor is designed to be fuel flexible, sulfur tolerant, and economically scalable to small, distributed bio-gas resources. It is also very efficient using a low power non- thermal plasma. High temperature solid oxide electrolysis has demonstrated efficiency at the thermodynamic limit as shown by analysis and testing at DOE and NASA laboratories, and is unique in its ability to co-electrolyze steam and CO2 directly to syngas. The HTCE stacks use innovations proven for the NASA Mars 2020 project which required exceptional ruggedness and effective high temperature seals. The FT reactor enables economical fabrication of smaller size synthetic fuel plants designed to match the scale of distributed renewable biomass resources. This is achieved with large diameter standard piping combined with a novel internal thermal management structure.The status of the technology elements and the planned engineering demonstration will be presented.This work is supported by the Bioenergy Technologies Office of the US Department of Energy.

Hydrocarbon biofuel from hydrotreating of palm oil over unsupported Ni–Mo sulfide catalysts

Research on the production of bio-hydrogenated diesel as a green second-generation biodiesel is increasingly attractive for renewable energy utilization in engines, and has potentially been produced from the hydrotreating of vegetable oils. The present work investigated the hydrodeoxygenation of palm oil catalyzed by unsupported nickel-molybdenum (Ni–Mo) sulfide synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The effects of the operating parameters, such as the reaction time (0.5–3 h), temperature (280–320 °C), oil concentration (5–15%) on the n-alkane yield were evaluated. A longer reaction time and higher temperature promoted the reaction via decarboxylation and decarbonylation pathways. Under the appropriate condition (300 °C, 2 h, and initial H2 pressure of 30 bar), the yield of C14–18 alkanes was 75.3 wt%, while the selectivity of n-C15, n-C16, n-C17, and n-C18 alkanes was 21.8, 19.7, 29.6, and 28.1%, respectively. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed n-alkenes, alcohols, and esters as byproducts. Characterization of catalyst revealed it had a sandwich structure consisting of weakly coupled layers, rim sites and Ni edges, which catalyzed the reaction efficiently. The catalyst could be reused for at least four cycles of palm oil hydrodeoxygenation with retention of a good performance with the decreased 17–25% alkane yield (2nd to 4th cycle with 50.8–57.3% n-C14–18 yield).

(Invited) Production of Liquid Hydrocarbons from Anaerobic Digester Gas

OxEon Energy, LLC (OxEon) plans to demonstrate production liquid hydrocarbon fuels using both the methane and CO2 generated in the food waste digester operated by the Environmental Products & Technologies Corporation (EPT). The EPT food waste digester in Burley Idaho sells produced biogas into a natural gas pipeline after separating and venting the bio-CO2. This project will convert the bio-methane to synthesis gas (syngas, as CO & H2) using a non-thermal plasma catalyzed autothermal reformer. To achieve high bio-carbon utilization, high temperature solid oxide co-electrolysis (HTCE) system will electrochemically generate additional syngas from the bio-CO2 combined with steam raised by cooling the Fischer Tropsch (FT) reactor. Syngas from the reformed methane and co-electrolyzed CO2, will be converted to liquid fuels using the FT reactor. Each of the technology components have been field tested independently and will be combined for the first time in this project. The project outcome will be an engineering scale demonstration of liquid hydrocarbon bio-fuel production achieving > 50% conversion to liquids of the biogenic carbon in both CH4 & CO2 produced by an anaerobic digester.Each of the three technology elements of the integrated engineering test incorporates numerous innovations. The plasma reactor is designed to be fuel flexible, sulfur tolerant, and economically scalable to small, distributed bio-gas resources. It is also very efficient using a low power non- thermal plasma. High temperature electrolysis has demonstrated efficiency at the thermodynamic limit as shown by analysis and testing at DOE and NASA laboratories, and is unique in its ability to co-electrolyze steam and CO2 directly to syngas. The HTCE stacks use innovations proven for the NASA Mars 2020 project which required exceptional ruggedness and effective high temperature seals. The FT reactor enables economical fabrication of smaller size synthetic fuel plants designed to match the scale of distributed renewable biomass resources. This is achieved with large diameter standard piping combined with a novel internal thermal management structure.The status of the technology elements and the planned engineering demonstration will be presented.This work is supported by the Bioenergy Technologies Office of the US Department of Energy.

Facile biphasic catalytic process for conversion of monoterpenoids to tricyclic hydrocarbon biofuels

Terpenoids have drawn much attention to scientists in synthesizing high-performance bio- jet fuels due to their ring structures, which feature potential high densities. Here, a facile biphasic catalytic process has been developed for the production of high-density tricyclic hydrocarbon biofuels from a monoterpenoid, 1,8-cineole, using sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as the homogeneous catalyst. A ~100% conversion of 1,8-cineole and a > 40% carbon yield of cyclic dimers were achieved at 100 °C within two hours. The mechanism for the acid-catalyzed conversion of 1,8-cineole to cyclic hydrocarbon dimers were explored. In particular, the formation of the diene intermediates and the following dimerization of dienes was essential to synthesize tricyclic terpene dimers. The biphasic catalytic process accelerated the deoxygenation rate and enabled the dimerization with the aid of organic solvent while controlling the reaction rates to avoid the formation of solid residues. Moreover, this process also facilitated the product separation by organic solvent extraction while enabling easy recycle of the homogenous catalysts.

Conversion of birch bark to biofuels

Birch bark was converted to a hydrocarbon biofuel through solubilization and hydrotreatment. The procedure implements a recyclable, salt- and metal-free solvent system and has been evaluated by Life-Cycle Assessment.

Selectivity of zinc-molybdenum catalyst to produce gasoil via catalytic hydrocracking of Kapook seed oil (Ceiba pentandra)

Various type of Zinc (3.25 %) Mo (6.34 %) Hz catalysts have been prepared using incipient wetness impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive analysis x-ray (EDAX) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The performance of the catalysts, Zinc (3.25 %) Mo (6.34 %) Hz was investigated for the catalytic hydrocracking of Kapook seed oil (KSO) to hydrocarbon biofuel in a slurry pressure batch reactor system with a stirrer. The hydrocracking reaction was carried out at reaction temperatures from 300-400 °C and reactor pressure of 15 bar for 2 h under H2 flowing. The effect of reaction temperature on composition of hydrocarbon compounds, n-paraffin, conversion and selectivity in liquid products was studied with a variation of ZincMoHz catalysts. It showed the highest hydrocarbon content decarboxylation and/or decarbonylation were 18.61 area% of n-paraffin and the highest content for gasoil-range alkanes was 10.44 area% obtained at 400 °C. The result show that the Zinc (3.25%) Mo (6.34%) Hz catalyst activity was found that the gasoil fraction which triglycerides where cracked with long carbon double bonds chains over Zinc (3.25%) Mo (6.34%) Hz catalyst.

Effect of Incubation Temperature, Light Intensity and Salinity on Growth, Lipid Content and Composition of Two Egyptian Race a of Botryococcus Braunii

Effects of the incubation temperature, light intensity and NaCl salinity on growth in addition to lipid content and composition of two isolates of Botryococcus braunii, (JN580448.1 and JN580451.1) were investigated. The light to dark period was 16h: 8h. Cultures were incubated for 7 weeks and harvested with GF/C filters for dry weight determination. Lipids were extracted by n-hexane and analyzed by GC/MS. Compared to control cultures, the temperature of 30oC induced significant (P ≤ 0.05) increase in biomass by 14.89% and 29.89% and lipids by 16.15% and 20.29% for isolates EG-Bb01 and EG-Bb04, respectively. The light intensity 48.6 μ mol photons m-2s-1 induced very high significant (P ≤ 0.001) increase in biomass (88.71% and 100.7%) and lipids (118.63% and 94.61%) of EG-Bb01 and EGBb04, respectively. Similarly, 17 mM NaCl salinity induced high significant (P ≤ 0.01) increase in biomass (23.82% and 17.71%) and lipids (32.92% and 24.51%) of EG-Bb01 and EG-Bb04, respectively. Considerable numbers of short C6-C15 chain compounds were detected in biomass of cultures grown under light intensity of 48.6 μ mol photons m-2s-1 and in cultures supplemented with 17mM NaCl. These results may indicate that the Egyptian isolates of Botryococcus are potential source of hydrocarbon biofuel.

Cover Feature: Catalytic One‐Pot Conversion of Renewable Platform Chemicals to Hydrocarbon and Ether Biofuels through Tandem Hf(OTf)4+Pd/C Catalysis (ChemSusChem 24/2019)

Cover Feature: Catalytic One‐Pot Conversion of Renewable Platform Chemicals to Hydrocarbon and Ether Biofuels through Tandem Hf(OTf)₄+Pd/C Catalysis (ChemSusChem 24/2019)

Fischer-Tropsch process from synthesis gas over fe-co/HZSM-5 catalyst to produce biofuel

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is the process of converting hydrogen into liquid fuel through several stages, namely: polymerization of CO and H2 gases into long chain hydrocarbons. From the FT process that requires many of these steps, this research was carried out in order to be able to simplify the Fischer-Tropsch process through limited polymerization to obtain liquid fuels. By combining Co and Fe metal catalysts, it is expected to show better performance than the use of individual metals. Using a Fe-Co/HZSM-5 metal catalyst combination in a fixed bed reactor at a reaction temperature of 225°C. Fe-Co / HZSM-5 catalyst was made by wet impregnation, then Fe-Co/HZSM-5 catalyst was characterized using XRD, BET, and SEM-EDX. From the XRD results, the addition of Fe and Co did not change the crystal structure of the HZSM-5 catalyst. The surface area of the HZSM-5 was 526.03 m2/g and decreased after the addition of metal (Fe and Co) to the HZSM-5. This change indicates that Fe and Co particles were successfully dispersed on the surface of the HZSM-5 and inserted into the HZSM-5 pore. Hydrocarbon biofuel products are analyzed using GC-MS. The results of GC-MS hydrocarbon products showed the highest compounds for hydrocarbons C13 and C14 chains were 5.78% and 6.68% at 225 °C.

Catalytic One-Pot Conversion of Renewable Platform Chemicals to Hydrocarbon and Ether Biofuels through Tandem Hf(OTf)4 +Pd/C Catalysis.

Efficient conversion of renewable biomass platform chemicals into high-quality fuels remains challenging. A one-pot catalytic approach has been developed to synthesize various structurally defined biofuels by using Hf(OTf)4 and Pd/C for selective tandem catalysis and 2-methylfuran (2-MF) as a renewable feedstock. 2-MF first undergoes Lewis acid-catalyzed hydroxyalkylation/alkylation (HAA) condensation with carbonyl compounds to afford intermediates containing the targeted carbon skeletons of hydrocarbon or ether products, and these intermediates then undergo hydrogenation or hydrodeoxygenation to afford the target products, catalyzed by metal triflate+Pd/C in the same pot. The present process can produce structurally defined alkanes and cyclic ethers under mild conditions.

Hydrocarbon Biofuel Production by Hydrocracking Process with Nickel-Iron Supported on HZSM-5 Catalyst

The production of hydrocarbon biofuel from coconut oil can substitute for fossil fuels to reduce the environmental issues. Hydrocracking is an effective method that can convert vegetable oil into biofuel using catalyst. In this experiment, nickel-iron was combined with HZSM-5 catalyst to produce biofuel. Hydrocracking of coconut oil was carried out in a batch reactor over Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst at a temperature of 350 and 400 °C for 2 h. Liquid hydrocarbon biofuel product was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Based on GC-MS analysis, processing at the temperature of 350 °C produced sample containing 72.56% carboxylic acids. When the temperature increased to 400 °C, the carboxylic acids decreased rapidly from 72.56% to 24.83%. Analysis results suggested that increase of temperature promoted to the increase of desirable content, hydrocarbon compounds. At the same like, it also suppressed formation of undesirable compounds: acids, ketones, phenols, alcohols, and esters. Overall, synthesized catalyst in this study improved production of n-paraffin compounds such as (tridecane (n-C13), tetradecane (n-C14) and pentadecane (n-C15)) as high 71.85%.

Hydrocracking of Coconut Oil over Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 Catalyst to Produce Hydrocarbon Biofuel

This present study was aimed to investigate the hydrocracking of coconut oil using Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst in a batch reactor at three reaction temperatures (350, 375, and 400 °C). The Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst was prepared by using incipient wetness impregnation. The Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst was characterized using XRD, BET, and SEM-EDX. From XRD results, the loading of Ni and Fe did not change the crystalline structure of HZSM-5 catalyst. The surface area of HZSM-5 was 425 m2/g and decreased after the addition of metals (Ni and Fe) into HZSM-5 support. These changes implied that Ni and Fe particles were successfully dispersed on the HZSM-5 surface and incorporated into HZSM-5 pore. The product of hydrocarbon biofuel was analyzed using GC-MS. The GC-MS results of hydrocarbon biofuel showed the highest compounds for n-paraffin and yield for gasoil was 39.24 and 18.4% at a temperature of 400 °C, respectively. The reaction temperature affected the yield and the composition of hydrocarbon biofuel. At this reaction temperature condition, decarboxylation and decarbonylation were favored; lead to the formation of n-alkanes with an odd number of carbon atoms chain length.

Temperature and Pressure Dependent Rate Coefficients for the Reaction of Ketene with Hydroxyl Radical.

The reaction of ketene with hydroxyl radical is drawing growing attention, for it is found to constitute an important step during the combustion of hydrocarbon and oxygenated hydrocarbon fuels, e.g., acetylene, propyne, allene, acetone, gasoline, diesel, jet fuels, and biofuels. We studied the potential energy surface (PES) of this reaction using B2PLYP-D3/cc-PVTZ for geometry optimization and composite methods based on CCSD(T)-F12/cc-PVTZ-F12 for energy calculations. From this PES, temperature- and pressure-dependent rate coefficients and branching ratios at 200-3000 K and 0.01-100 atm were derived using the RRKM/ME approach. The reaction is dominated by four product channels: (i) OH addition on the olefinic carbon of ketene to form CH2OH + CO, which is the most dominant under all conditions; (ii) H abstraction producing HCCO + H2O, which is favored at high temperatures; (iii) OH addition on the carbonyl carbon to form CH3 + CO2, which is favored at low pressures and high temperatures; and (iv) collisional stabilization of CH2COOH, which is favored at high pressures and low temperatures. With increasing temperatures, the overall rate constant koverall exhibit first negative but then positive temperature dependency, with its switching point (also the minimum point) at ∼400 K. Both product channel CH2OH + CO and HCCO + H2O are independent of pressure, whereas formation of CH3 + CO2 and collisional stabilization of CH2COOH are highly pressure dependent. Fitted modified Arrhenius expressions of the calculated rate constants are provided for the purpose of combustion modeling.

Lung effects of 7- and 28-day inhalation exposure of rats to emissions from 1st and 2nd generation biodiesel fuels with and without particle filter – The FuelHealth project

Increased use of 1st and 2nd generation biofuels raises concerns about health effects of new emissions. We analyzed cellular and molecular lung effects in Fisher 344 rats exposed to diesel engine exhaust emissions (DEE) from a Euro 5-classified diesel engine running on B7: petrodiesel fuel containing 7% fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), or SHB20 (synthetic hydrocarbon biofuel): petrodiesel fuel containing 7% FAME and 13% hydrogenated vegetable oil. The Fisher 344 rats were exposed for 7 consecutive days (6 h/day) or 28 days (6 h/day, 5 days/week), both with and without diesel particle filter (DPF) treatment of the exhaust in whole body exposure chambers (n = 7/treatment). Histological analysis and analysis of cytokines and immune cell numbers in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) did not reveal adverse pulmonary effects after exposure to DEE from B7 or SHB20 fuel. Significantly different gene expression levels for B7 compared to SHB20 indicate disturbed redox signaling (Cat, Hmox1), beta-adrenergic signaling (Adrb2) and xenobiotic metabolism (Cyp1a1). Exhaust filtration induced higher expression of redox genes (Cat, Gpx2) and the chemokine gene Cxcl7 compared to non-filtered exhaust. Exposure time (7 versus 28 days) also resulted in different patterns of lung gene expression. No genotoxic effects in the lungs were observed. Overall, exposure to B7 or SHB20 emissions suggests only minor effects in the lungs.

Catalytic conversion of waste cooking oils for the production of liquid hydrocarbon biofuels using in-situ coating metal oxide on SBA-15 as heterogeneous catalyst

Liquid hydrocarbon biofuels obtained from the catalytic cracking of animal fats and plant oils have become attractive because of their possible environmental benefits, and the current concerns over the depletion of fossil-fuel sources. In this work, five different metal-oxide (ZnO, La2O3, CeO2, NiO and MgO) modified SBA-15 (MeO-SBA-15) samples were prepared by a simple one-pot synthesis method and were used in the catalytic cracking of waste cooking oils. The synthesized catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction, N2 physisorption, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared techniques, and their catalytic performances were investigated in detail in the cracking of waste cooking oils. To obtain high-quality biofuel, all the pyrolysis products were separated into two compounds by distillation: (a) liquid hydrocarbon biofuels including gasoline and diesel fractions (distillation temperature ≤ 350 °C); (b) heavy oils (distillation temperature >350 °C). The results indicated that the mesostructure of the SBA-15 was well preserved after metal oxide modification, and the MeO-SBA-15 catalysts improved the hydrocarbon biofuels yield and decreased the heavy oil yield. Among the catalysts, the ZnO-SBA-15 showed an excellent catalytic performance and produced the highest biofuel yield (37.3%) and the lowest yield of heavy oils (39.9%). The liquid hydrocarbon biofuels obtained using the ZnO-SBA-15 catalyst had a similar chemical composition to the diesel-based fuels and showed a lower density, lower viscosity and higher heating values than raw waste cooking oils. These results indicated that ZnO-SBA-15 can promote the chemical reactions, such as deoxygenation and decarbonylation.

Selective production of the acyclic monoterpene β-myrcene by microplantlet suspension cultures of the macrophytic marine red alga Ochtodes secundiramea under nutrient perfusion cultivation with bromide-free medium

This study demonstrated the selective production of a single acyclic monoterpene, β-myrcene, by photosynthetic, clonal microplantlet suspension cultures of the macrophytic red alga Ochtodes secundiramea (Cryptonemiales, Rhizophyllidaceae). Microplantlets were cultivated within an airlift photobioreactor under continuous medium perfusion with enhanced nutrients (nitrate, phosphate) and 3500 ppm CO2 in the aeration gas to provide nutrient-replete conditions. The removal of bromide (Br-) and vanadate (VO43−) from the medium shut down bromoperoxidase-catalyzed halogenation, so that only the common precursor to halogenated monoterpenes, β-myrcene, accumulated within the biomass. Nutrient-replete cultivation enabled near-exponential biomass production to density of 6 g DW/L, with specific growth rate of 4.4 ± 0.1% per day over the 36 day cultivation period at near-saturation light intensity. Myrcene was produced during biomass production, and the specific rate of β-myrcene production within the biomass exceeded the specific rate of biomass production, so that β-myrcene accumulated within the biomass. Increasing the mean light intensity from approximately 60 to 95% of light saturation linearly increased the growth rate, but did not increase the specific rate of β-myrcene production. At near saturation light intensity, the specific rate of β-myrcene production was 6.8 ± 0.7% per day (1.0 S.E.) with yield of 40 μmol/g DW after 36 days. Although the yields of β-myrcene were low (0.6 wt% in biomass), the potential for high biomass density, ease of microplantlet separation, and high selectivity of hydrocarbon biosynthesis suggest that microplantlets of terpenoid-producing red macroalgae have promise as a new platform for advanced hydrocarbon biofuel production from CO2, provided new strategies can be developed to enhance monoterpene yield.

Catalytic cracking of rubber seed oil using basic mesoporous molecular sieves K2O/MeO-SBA-15 (Me = Ca, Mg or Ba) as heterogeneous catalysts for the production of liquid hydrocarbon fuels

Liquid hydrocarbon fuels obtained from the catalytic cracking animal fats and plant oils have become one kinds of the attractive fuels because of their possible environment benefits and the current concern over the depletion of fossil fuel sources. In this work, using the combined methods of one-pot synthesis and wetness-impregnation, some basic mesoporous molecular sieves K2O/MeO-SBA-15 (Me = Ca, Mg or Ba) were prepared, characterized and used in the catalytic cracking of rubber seed oil (RSO). The results indicated that the catalysts K2O/MeO-SBA-15 had better catalytic performances than MeO-SBA-15, assigning to their stronger basicity. The catalyst K2O/MgO-SBA-15 obtained with 15 wt% KNO3 impregnation concentration showed the excellent catalytic performance with about 93.2% conversion and 78.3% yield of liquid hydrocarbon biofuel. The obtained liquid biofuel had similar chemical composition to diesel-based fuels and showed good cold flow property, high calorific and low acid value. Importantly, the catalyst K2O/MgO-SBA-15 was of excellent reusability, and it was reused with negligible loss in its catalytic performance for five times, attributing to the MgO layer between silicon skeleton and potassium species which prevents the reaction between silicon in the framework and potassium species.

Hydrotreating lipids for aviation biofuels derived from extraction of wet and dry algae

Upgrading is a critical step for producing hydrocarbon biofuels. Recently, upgrading algae lipids had attracted a lot of attention, but the attention to aviation biofuel was not enough. Meanwhile, the research of upgrading wet algae lipids was very limited. The hydrogenation characteristics were investigated for lipids derived from extraction of dry and wet algae. Hydrotreating parameters including temperature (270–350 °C) and catalyst loading (10–30%) were investigated and two-stage hydrogenation was conducted at the optimal reaction condition. Two-stage biofuels resulted in lower heteroatoms including O and N both for dry and wet algae lipids. The elemental contents of N were below 0.007% and the O contents were below 0.3%. The heating values were about 46.2 MJ/kg. Both of dry and wet algae lipids can be hydrotreated to aviation biofuel by the two-stage hydrogenation, even though the wet algae lipids contained more carboxylic acid, sterol, and vitamin E than dry algae lipids, which contains more alcohols and esters. The compound of 5-Methyl-3-phenylcyclopent-2-en-1-one is difficult to be upgraded. The content of aromatics and cyclo-paraffins shows a rising trend and some of the aromatics could be upgraded to cyclo-paraffins in the hydrogenation process. In addition, the yield of high-quality biofuel from dry algae lipids is 73.02%, and that is 76.47% for wet algae lipids, which indicated that the wet route hydrogenation might have an advantage over the dry route. The hydrotreating results of model compound cholesterol indicated that much amounts of aromatics was generated.